


A Little Night Matchmaking

by fanwarrior



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Garcia is Matchmaking, Karaoke, Romance, Slow Build, eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanwarrior/pseuds/fanwarrior
Summary: You joined the BAU three months ago and have been loving getting to know your teammates.  But a hidden talent of yours is discovered, and Garcia eventually decides to use that to help bring her new OTP together: one part newbie, one part genius.





	1. A Night Off

**Author's Note:**

> My sleep-refusing brain basically just word vomited this first chapter so let me know what your thoughts are - I would love any and all feedback!
> 
> Also, there's this cool Google Chrome app called InteractiveFics that'll automatically replace 'Samantha' with your name (or whatever you want). I personally love it and wish I could thank the kind soul on this website who taught be about it but alas I failed to make a note of your name. So thank you, kind stranger; you are my hero!
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Staring out the window of the jet, you let yourself think back on the whirlwind that was the last few months. The position at the Behavioral Analysis Unit opened up so quickly that you didn’t even have time to think before you submitted your application if you wanted to be in the running. It was so surreal to get the call that they did in fact want you to join the team, and you floated into the bullpen the next week as if on a cloud. That didn’t last too long as you were thrust into the thick of it, dealing with un-subs all over the country. Most days were long and hard, and it was never easy seeing the faces of those who had been lost. But you smiled thinking about all the people you were able to help save; many of them would never be the same, but so many more didn’t ever even have to learn about the danger another human’s choices had put them in. Thinking about the pros of your job eventually led to thinking about the rest of the team. You sneakily glanced around the jet, not wanting to get caught in your admiration of them all. It was amazing to think that it had only been about three months since you met them all, but apparently being in life-threatening situations forced people to become close whether they wanted to be or not. Not that you had been worried about that – everyone had been incredibly welcoming to you when you had arrived. You had momentarily worried about Dr. Reid’s refusal of your handshake, but quickly learned it was nothing to take personally. Once Garcia had found out about your love of Doctor Who, she’d made sure that you and Reid bonded over it, eventually leading to an easy friendship.

You and Penelope had instantly clicked, and if you had to you would have labeled her as your best friend on the team. But you would never discredit your friendships with the rest at all. You got along amazingly with Morgan, practically a necessity if you wanted to be able to keep Penny in your life. JJ was an amazing woman, intimidating to you only because of how together her life seemed; you loved seeing her kick butt out in the field too, intimidating un-subs whenever possible. Rossi and Hotch were both a little harder to get to know, but you blamed that mostly on yourself. It always felt weird to befriend the bosses, but after depending on their leadership so thoroughly you eventually cracked through the layer of acquaintances to one of friends. Another thing that amazed you about the team was everyone’s willingness to automatically be part of everyone’s support system. Everyone had been there when, just a couple of cases ago, Rossi had been shot, offering casseroles and company. But everyone helped out with smaller things as well. Like driving Reid home after a late night of paperwork, or babysitting Henry so that JJ and Will could have a night out by themselves. You thanked your lucky stars that none of your cases so far had been particularly bad for you (in terms of the both the physical and the mental toll they could take), but you were always more than happy to pitch in with the others.

“Samantha,” your musings were interrupted by Morgan.  “Whatcha thinking about?”

You smiled, considering how much he’d tease you if you admitted how much you loved the whole group already.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Hmm for some reason I don’t believe that. You’ve been smiling way too long.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Who’ve you been thinking about? It’s me, isn’t it?”

You chuckled, “Of course it’s you.” _And that’s even a partial truth_ , you thought to yourself. “Who else would it be?”

“Ha I knew it!” By now the whole team was paying attention to your banter across the jet. “So you got any plans for this evening?”

“Ah, yes,” you nod gravely. “Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork.”

You heard chuckles from all around, all of you dreading the boring office work while simultaneously glad for a bit of calm.

“Well, then I guess our date will have to wait for another time.” You smirk over at your colleague. You weren’t used to flirting coming naturally, but something about Morgan made the back and forth easy. Maybe it was because you knew nothing would ever happen between the two of you. As your thoughts start to turn inwards again, your eyes pass over Dr. Reid. Your smile returns as you think about how bad it would be if the two of you ever had to flirt with each other. You almost laughed out loud trying to figure out who would have the harder time.

***

The rest of the flight was smooth and mostly quiet, but the chatter picked up during the drive back to the bureau. The team had gotten back early enough that everyone assumed there would be time to go out after all the paperwork had been finished. The conversation quickly turned to where you would all be going.

“What about bowling?” asked Morgan.

“Reid won’t even shake hands with people, why do you think he’d agree to bowling?” You only glanced over at your colleague, continuing before allowing him to speak for himself, “What about that pub that’s like two blocks down from Quantico?”

“That might not be too bad,” JJ piped up.

“That sounds so boring though,” whined Morgan.

“I have learned that this team is never boring when enough alcohol is involved,” said Rossi. Everyone around you laughed.

“Ok, I feel like you’ve all been holding out on me,” you said. JJ looked over at you.

“Wait, I bet Garcia would have a good idea!” she exclaimed.

“Do you really want to give her that kind of power though?” asked Reid.

Morgan chuckled at his friend’s slightly panicked look.

“Oh yes, definitely.”

***

You had been making really good progress on your paperwork when all of a sudden you heard a loud, low laugh come from Garcia’s tech cave. You kept one eye on the door until you saw Morgan come out, and shot him a questioning look.

“Uh uh, I’m not saying a word. Baby girl loves her surprises,” he said while making his way back over to his desk. You spent the rest of the hour finishing your paperwork as fast as you could while trying to figure out what could possibly be about to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. How was the chapter length? I'm hoping to aim for a little bit longer from now on, but maybe this is good? Idk tell me your feelings!
> 
> P.P.S. I'm not 100% sure about this title so it might change... Just a heads up!


	2. Karaoke?!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the trip to the bar, you think about your friendship with your team's resident genius.  
> At the bar, you find everyone is eagerly awaiting your song choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this ended up being a longer chapter! Yay! It also happened a lot faster than I'd expected - as much as I'd love to promise a chapter every day on the regular, I can't... But hopefully I'll be able to keep at least some of this momentum!
> 
> I'd still love any and all feedback - I'm beta-ing this myself so there's bound to be a margin of error, as well as anything else I should know!
> 
> Thanks for reading!

“Karaoke? You’ve got to be kidding!” Rossi exclaimed.

“What? We’ve done it before! Plus karaoke is always fun,” Garcia countered.

“Well obviously you’ve never done sober karaoke,” you interjected.

“Well obviously then it’s not real karaoke.” Garcia’s mischievous smile was infectious. You found yourself smiling with her before squinting your eyes.

“Fine, I’m in, but only if you sing Penelope,” you said begrudgingly.

“Oh, I will don’t worry. The catch is that you have to too,” she responded.

“Umm, what?”

“Like I said, we’ve all done it before, some with more liquid courage than others,” she made pointed eye contact with Reid here. “But none of us have ever gotten to hear your beautiful voice!” Everyone had finished packing up their stuff and you all started edging towards the exit as the conversation continued.

“Mmm hmm, so how do you know it’s a beautiful voice then?”

“I have a sixth sense.”

“I’m pretty sure we’d have to be up to about your ninth sense by now, with everything you’ve told me you can do.”

“Eh it might be true, what can I say?” She smiled again, taking your counter as praise.

“Speaking as a profiler,” Morgan inserted, finding a space to walk between the two of you, “I’d bet she’s right. Someone so beautiful has to have a voice to match.”

“Ooh that was a bit much. Even for you, Morgan,” you laughed.

He quirked his eyebrow, saying, “Well it’s true for Garcia over here, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be the same for you.”

“Ooh ok good save!” you said, heading for your car.

“Hey you can’t drive that thing after, you know that right?” Penelope yelled after you as she headed off with Derek.

“Duh!” you yelled back. “I’m gonna drive it home and then Uber over to the bar, don’t worry! I’ll see you there!” You wave to your friends, but Spencer broke off from the rest of the group and did a little jog to get over to you.

“Hey, um,” he started, “do you want me to drive you there? I mean you’ve driven me enough and I’d be happy to do it.”

“Oh no, Reid, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering.” While you paused to think it over, he added, “To tell the truth, I’d also love an excuse to not drink. No one wants a repeat of my last karaoke.” His face turned such an adorable shade of pink that you had to say yes.

“Oh, but see now I want to see your karaoke,” you said as you climbed into your own passenger seat.

He smiled, but vehemently said, “No, I really think you don’t.”

“Fine. For now. But we’ll play it by ear,” you said smiling, happy to get this chance to unwind with your friends outside of work.

You sighed and felt yourself relax into the car seat as Spencer pulled out of the parking spot. You were looking out the window at the passing scenery when you felt his gaze land on you.

“I can practically hear those cogs turning from all the way over there; spill.”

Spencer seemed startled by your words, but quickly composed himself.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about the case. Glad it’s over,” he added.

“Mmm hmm.”

There was another minute of silence before either of you talked. You used it to watch the man driving your car out of the corner of your eye. Something about this moment felt oddly domestic to you, almost as if Reid should have been out of place in your car. You had been spending more and more time with him outside of work, but something was nagging at the back of your head in this moment. You pushed it down, afraid of what it could be suggesting.

“Ooh!” you started, startling Spencer again. “I completely forgot to tell you – I finally got a copy of _The Hunt for the Wilderpeople_! Movie night at mine!”

“Oh great!"  He paused.  "You’ll have to tell Garcia at the bar, I’m sure she’ll want to come. She loved _What We Do in the Shadows_ too.”

You felt the nagging flare up at the mention of inviting your friend, and quickly shoved it back down while nodding. He wanted to hang out with you in group settings.

“Yeah sometimes I still find her muttering, ‘We’re werewolves, not swear-wolves.’” You both chuckled.

“Have you gotten around to _Stranger Things_ yet?” he asked.

“Oh, no! No spoilers!” you shouted.

“Don’t worry, I’d never do that.”

“On purpose,” you said sarcastically.

“How was I supposed to know that you hadn’t seen all _The Hobbit_ movies? Or read the book for that matter. Those spoilers had been around almost 79 years before I – ”

“Spoiled it.”

He huffed while keeping his eyes on the road.

“There’s no point is there?”

“Nope. I shall never let you live that down.”

“You’re the one who should be worrying about living it down though, aren’t you?” He continued, mumbling, “Never read _The Hobbit_.”

“Oh I’m sorry Mr. Genius we can’t all read at the speed of light, and I just happen to always choose other things first. _And_ some of us were saving it to read in school, only to get put in honors classes that didn’t read it.”

“Oh honors classes, very nice,” he guffawed, but you knew it was all in jest. You smiled.

“Oh shut up.”

He smiled too, taking a quick moment to look over at you.

“Just keep driving.”

***

“Hey, guys, over here!” You could barely hear Penelope yelling over the blaring music playing in between karaoke sets. She and Derek had gotten there first and thankfully found a table big enough for the whole team. You saw her wave at you and Reid individually before leaning over to whisper something into Morgan’s ear. You finished approaching as a giant grin made its way across his face.

“What?” you asked him.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, stealing your answer from earlier on the jet. You looked to Spencer and he shrugged back at you.

“Well, I’m going to grab a drink. Do you two want anything?” Penelope and Derek both shook their heads. “What about you, Reid? It’s the least I can do for you driving me tonight.”

“Um, yeah I’ll get a soda, but I’ll just come with you.”

“Ah smart, give the two lovebirds their space.”

“Or something like that,” you heard Morgan say before Garcia smacked his arm. “Ouch, baby girl, what was that for?”

“Oh, shut up you liked it.”

You smiled and shook your head at your crazy friends, wondering if they’d snuck in a couple of shots before grabbing the table.

 _Maybe not a hugely terrible idea_ , you thought to yourself as you made your way towards the bar, Spencer right next to you.

“Oh my god,” you let out in a breath as your eyes settled on one of the bar’s taps.

“What?” asked Spencer.

“They have Murphy’s Stout here!” You giggled. “It’s always so hard to find. Think Guinness, but better.” He nodded, smiling at your excitement. “You can try some of mine if you want.”

“Yeah thanks I’d like to,” he said as the bartender wandered over to the two of you.

“Hi, what can I get started for you folks?”

“I’ll have a Murphy’s,” you started, “and a…”

“Just a Coke,” Spencer added.

“Oh, not even one? I’m sure we’ll be here long enough if you want to.”

“No, I’ll just try yours and then happily stick with soda for the rest of the night.”

“Your karaoke experience was really that bad, huh?”

“Bad doesn’t even begin to describe it,” he admits, cringing.

“That’ll be $9.50,” the bartender said, bringing over your drinks.

“No, really, I got it,” you said, seeing Spencer reach for his wallet. You handed your card to the bartender as your coworker gave you a smile and a nod as thanks.

“So do you know what you’re going to sing?” he asked while you waited for the payment to go through.

“No, I gotta look at their list I think. I’m not sure, I definitely need some drinks in me before anything happens. Thanks,” you added to the bartender, taking your card. You grabbed a quick sip of your drink as you tucked your card away in your pocket as you and Reid made your way back over to the table. By now, your other three colleagues had arrived, and you all quickly greeted each other before Rossi and Hotch made their way over to the bar.

“So Samantha,” JJ started, “any idea what you’ll be singing later?” Garcia and Morgan’s eyes were both glued on you awaiting an answer.

“Haha no. I was just telling Reid I need to look at their list first. What ever it is, I’m definitely going to need more drinks in me first.”

“Like how many drinks?” Penelope asked.

“Umm… At least 3. In total. I’ll count this one.” You turned to Spencer, motioning for him to try it. You missed the conspiratorial glance between Penelope and Derek.

“Ok, Samantha,” Derek said, “pick your poison. Shot wise.”

“Seriously?” you asked.

“Seriously.”

“Hmm ok.” You pretended to think more than anything. “Tequila.”  If you were going to sing you needed something to really numb your nerves.

“Ooh I likey!” Penelope interjected.

“You want some too, sweet thing?” Derek asked her.

“Yes please!” She watched him walk away to the bar.

“How many shots have you already had Pen?” JJ asked.

“Just three.” You must have all looked shocked. “What? I like to start strong and just coast.” She smiled.

“Hmm I guess I can’t fault that logic,” you said, raising your glass in mock salute to your friend.

“That is good, by the way,” added Spencer, motioning towards your pint.

“What is it?” asked JJ.

“Murphy’s. It’s an Irish stout,” you said. “I’ll always remember it cause I asked my mom what to see in Dublin when I was traveling over there and the only thing she thought important was Murphy’s.” Your colleagues chuckled along with you.

“What’d we miss?” Morgan asked as he came back with Rossi and Hotch.

“Oh, just the details of the fabulous tour of Europe I took in my youth,” you teased.

“Yeah, your European booze tour,” Penelope added almost under her breath.

“Well don’t worry,” said Morgan, “you’re still young and there’s plenty of booze right here in the little old U. S. of A.” He slid two shots of tequila over to you, with a small plate of lime slices and salt packets. Garcia received a similar package, just half the size.

“Together?” you asked your friend.

“Of course!” In sync, the two of you both tore open a salt packet. As you licked the back of your hand between your thumb and forefinger you felt Spencer’s eyes on you.

“What?” you asked him as you poured the salt on the damp patch of skin. “Not a fan of tequila?” He cleared his throat.

“Umm, no, not particularly I guess. Did you know that tequila can only be produced in five Mexican states, and over 40 countries have recognized it as a Mexican designation of origin product?”

“No I didn’t know that.” You smiled at him.

“Ok, pretty boy,” Morgan interrupted, “these ladies need to get to drinking!”

You turned to Garcia and raised your shot glass, keeping your slice of lime at the ready.

“To your health! And voice!” Garcia toasted.

“Cheers!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Tequila facts via Wikipedia


	3. The Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have fun hanging out with the team before having to sing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I put links for all the songs throughout the chapter - I hope that doesn't bother anyone! If it's a huge problem let me know, otherwise I don't think they're too hard to skip over...
> 
> Thanks for reading!

You were enjoying this time with team more than you had expected. Probably, because you kept forgetting about the impending karaoke, until one of your teammates would sneak it into the conversation somehow. But you would make sure to brush it off, leading everyone back to somewhere that didn’t make you nervous.

“So Reid,” you turned your body towards your coworker, after another musical question from Hotch, “has anyone ever taken you up on your kissing as opposed to handshaking thing?” The shot and half a pint, along with the need to quickly change the subject, had you reaching for questions you’d never thought you’d actually ask your coworkers. Spencer seemed as surprised as you were by the question, but the rest of the team were smiling, eagerly awaiting his response.

“Umm, yeah, just once.” He reached his hand back to scratch at the base of his skull, seemingly not super comfortable with this line of questioning.

“And?”

“And… It was awkward. Well maybe not for her, she initiated it, but I thought it was awkward. My saying that isn’t meant to be an invitation for kissing, just a way to let people know that they are constantly spreading unnecessary germs around.”

You squinted your eyes at him, hoping to get some more details, but he seemed done with his telling.

“Hmm ok. Morgan,” you switched your focus to the other side of the table, “tell me something good.”

“Ooh thinking about singing a little Rufus for us later, Y/N?”

“Oh Jesus can’t you guys just let me relax for a while before I have to sing for you all?” You were annoyed but still smiling at your teammate. “I might as well be getting naked – that’s practically what singing is, baring your soul to a room full of people you don’t know.”

“Well we’ve all bared it in the past, sweetheart, so it’s only fair for you to do it too.”

“To be fair, I wasn’t there for any of that.”

“Well we’ll do our best to get everyone to do it again,” Penelope chimed in. “I’m definitely doing it with you tonight. We can go over right after this group goes!”

She was just finishing this sentence as the music was fading into nothing. Then a DJ wandered up to the booth on the corner of the stage and grabbed a mic before addressing the crowd.

“How’s everybody doing tonight?” This was met with a hearty cheer from the audience. “Well I’m glad to hear it! If you’re just joining us, I’m DJ T. and I’m your MC for the evening. Today and every Friday is karaoke night here at the Iron Ram. But I know you’re not here to hear me, you wanna hear some beautiful singing!” Another cheer went up. “Well, here we go! First up, we got Laurence Williams, singing ‘Moves Like Jagger’.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRsxpoAc5w] As the familiar whistling started over the guitar, you smiled. It was obvious that the man on stage was feeling the music, and his confidence was infectious. _“Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad,”_ you thought to yourself. And then he started singing.

_Just shoot for the stars if it feels right_

_And aim for my heart if you feel like it_

_Take me away and make it okay_

_I swear I’ll behave…_

“Welp, I’m glad I saved this!” you said, turning to your second shot of tequila.

“Oh, shush!” said Penelope from the other side of the table.

“Hey, he’s obviously enjoying his singing, so I might as well make it so that I can enjoy it too.” There were several chuckles from around the table.

            _Take me by the tongue and I’ll know you_

_Kiss me ‘til you’re drunk and I’ll show you all the moves like Jagger_

_I’ve got the moves like Jagger_

_I’ve got the moooooooooves like Jagger_

“It could be worse,” said Spencer.

“You speaking from experience, pretty boy?” you asked, stealing Morgan’s nickname for your friend. Even with the dim colored lighting from the bar you could see him blush from embarrassment.

“Yes.”

“Y/N, if you can’t stand this guy, I really don’t think you need to see Reid’s performance,” said Rossi.

“Hey, I can stand him, I’m just saying he wouldn’t be my choice of artist for a whole night out. And besides,” you smiled at the man sitting next to you, “if it was Reid, just think of how much fun it would be to tease him about it afterwards.”

“You know it’s really not fair for you to plan blackmail for me if I have nothing to hold over your head,” Spencer said in an attempt to defend himself.

“Ah, that’s because I’m perfect and so there isn’t anything to use against me,” you retorted.

“Maybe Y/N will do terribly tonight once we get her up on that stage, and then you’ll be on more even footing,” JJ suggested.

“Ooh now the pressure’s on!” you giggled.

            _I don’t need to try to control you_

_Look into my eyes and I’ll own you with them moves like Jagger_

_I’ve got the moves like Jagger_

_I’ve got the moooooooooves like Jagger_

“Oh thank god,” you mumbled under your breath as you joined in the rousing applause from the mostly drunk audience.

“Well first person’s done. I wonder what else people’ll do tonight?” Penelope asked, looking pointedly at you as she did.

“It can only go up from here,” you said.

After a surprisingly good rendition of “All About That Bass” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk&spfreload=1] from a surprisingly slim woman, a Melissa somebody got up for Katy Perry’s “Firework” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw]. From the amount of stumbling she was doing, it was obvious that she was on the drunker end of the spectrum of patrons at the bar. You didn’t want to assume that she would be pitchy the whole way through the song, but that assumption would have been right.

            _Do you ever feel like a plastic bag_

_Drifting through the wind_

_Wanting to start again_

“Okay, I’m gonna go get more alcohol. Anyone want anything?”

“I’d take a Whiskey, neat.”

“Red wine?”

“Budweiser, thanks.”

“Rum and coke, please.”

“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” Penelope added on last.

“Okay, whiskey, wine, bud, rum and Coke, and two pints. Spencer you want anything?”

“Well that was impressive! Are you sure you don’t have genius memory too?” Morgan asked playfully.

“Sadly no, just a bit of waitressing in my past,” you said before turning back to Spencer.

“Umm, I’ll just come with you. Help you carry drinks,” he said.

“Great thanks!”

You started on your way over to the bar, finding yourself squeezing in between people now that it had filled up some more. Once you made it, you looked over your shoulder to see Spencer trying to make it past the last part of the crowd. He looked as if he was trying to shrink in upon himself, so as to touch as few people as possible.

“Too many germs here?” you said with a chuckle once he caught up with you. He smiled weakly but didn’t have a chance to answer before the bartender came over.

“You’re back!” she said jovially.

“Of course! Got a doosey of an order for you this time though.”

“Ok hit me.”

“We’d like one whiskey, neat; a glass of red wine, whatever you recommend; a Budweiser; a rum and Coke; two pints of Murphy’s, one of Stella; and…” you turned to Spencer again.

“Another Coke, please.”

“Ok I think I got all that. I may be back,” she said with a wink.

“Nice work! But what was the Stella for?”

“Ah, well Penelope thinks she wants the same thing as me, so I’ll bring it, the Murphy’s, but when she doesn’t love it she’ll be so pleased to see a Stella coming for her.” You giggled. “Plus then I get a second pint.”

“Ok, here’s your Murphy’s, Stella, and Bud,” the bartender said as she dropped them off.

“Stay here, and watch this,” you told Spencer, gesturing to the Stella. “Here’s my card incase she finishes with everything else. I’ll be right back.”

You made your way through the crowd surprisingly quickly, placing one pint in front of your empty chair, one in front of Garcia, and the Budweiser in front of JJ.

“I’ll be right back with the rest of it.” And you were off again.

You got back to the bar just in time to see Spencer hand off your card to the bartender, and the two of you waited in silence, listening to the rendition of “The Lazy Song” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLexgOxsZu0] just getting started.

            _Today I don’t fell like doing anything_

_I just wanna lay in my bed_

“Here you go,” the bartender said, returning your credit card to you.

“Thanks!” You turned to Spencer. “Ok, if you can grab your drink and wine, I’ll grab the whiskey, rum and Coke, and Stella.”  
“Sounds good.”

When you got back to the table you found Penelope with a slightly sour look on her face, trying to drink her pint of stout. You didn’t say anything though, just finished passing out the drinks before sliding the Stella over to her.

“Oh thank God you know me so well.”

“You’re welcome,” you said with a smile on your face, sliding her Murphy’s back over to yourself.

The next song, an ill-advised “Hey Jude” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nciSKx_6-YM] was blessedly over quickly thanks to the track and it’s built in cuts.

After the applause died down, DJ T said, “That’s all for this segment, folks, but we’re taking sign up now for the next five performers! Hope to see you up here!” With that, Penelope practically lunged over the table to grab your hand, dragging you up to his booth to look at the song list.

“Hey,” she said to the DJ, “My friend and I would both like to be in the next group!”

“Is your friend cool with that?” he asked, turning to you, seemingly aware of your nervousness.

“Yeah. I kinda have to be but yeah,” you said with as much of a smile as you could muster.

“Well, come on, pick one!” Penelope said.

After that, everything flew by in a blur. There was a fairly good version of “We Are Young” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6dMFF_yts] before Garcia’s rousing “Rumor Has It” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgpInZ6OQ40]. You hugged her and gushed over her performance, as you felt it deserved, before you heard your name and song choice, and Garcia pushed you up onto the little stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up getting more detailed and going more slowly than I had expected! But I swear it will get more important plot stuff happening soon!


	4. House of the Rising Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You perform, the night ends, and Spencer drives you home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind words - you really helped me kick my butt back into gear!!!
> 
> Still moving slow on the tension front, but who knows what the future will hold?!
> 
> Thanks for reading!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2oKRKZnEoA]

You could hear the bass and guitar already starting as you made your way to the center of the stage, grabbing the microphone to steady yourself. You just had enough time to locate prompter below you on the stage; even though you thought you knew most of the words, you would never say no to some backup just in case.

You took a deep breath, and started off somewhat timidly.

            _There is a house in New Orleans_

_They call the Rising Sun_

_And it’s been the ruin of many a poor…_

In the moment you chose to change a lyric to fit your gender. “Girl” didn’t have quite the same ring to it, but you went with it.

            _And, God, I know I’m one_

As you got to the second verse, you found it was easier to relax into the song, elongating your phrasing and fitting better with the underlying beat of the music.

            _My mother was a tailor_

_She sewed my new blue jeans_

_My father was a gambling man_

_Down in New Orleans_

With the second short musical break you had a quick moment of panic, berating yourself for choosing such a long song. But you looked up into the crowd and saw that the people seemed to be with you, at least as much as they could be for being predominantly drunk. You took another deep breath and continued on.

_Now the only thing a gambler needs_

_Is a suitcase and a trunk_

_And the only time she’s satisfied_

_Is when she’s on a drunk_

You knew this musical break was longer, and just decided to fuck it. “It” being what other people thought about you. You closed your eyes and let the music move you as it might have had you been alone in your room at home.

_Oh, Mother, tell your children_

_Not to do what I have done_

_Spend your lives in sin and misery_

_In the House of the Rising Sun_

With this musical interlude you took a moment to remove the mic from it’s stand, knowing that you would be happy if you could move for the next verse.

_Well I got one foot on the platform_

_The other foot on the train_

_I going back to New Orleans_

_To wear that ball and chain_

As much as you had been dreading this, you had to admit it was a lot of fun. It had been years since you’d sung for anyone else and it was nice to get back to it, even if it was only for one night.

_Well there is a house in New Orleans_

_They call the Rising Sun_

_And it’s been the ruin of many a poor girl_

_And, God, I know I’m one_

Once you were done singing, you finally looked over to the table full of your teammates. The instrumentals were still finishing up, and you were pleased to see their smiling faces, half enjoyment and half shock.

You fit the mic back into the stand and took a bow as the final chord was strummed. The audience’s response surprised you – not so loud you were knocked off your feet or anything, but louder than anyone else had gotten that night. You smiled shyly and scampered back to your table.

“So, Ariel, why have you been keeping that little secret from us?” Morgan asked as soon as you sat down.

“Where did that come from?” JJ asked excitedly.

“It really was impressive,” Rossi added, Hotch nodding along next to him.

“That was really beautiful, Y/N,” Spencer said quietly. So quietly, in fact, that you weren’t sure if any of the rest of the team heard him over the din of the bar. There was so much sincerity in it though that you were sure you blushed more violently than you should have. You smiled back at your friend, trying to convey your thanks.

“See, this is why we needed to come here,” Garcia said flippantly.

You squinted your eyes at your friend.

“You knew didn’t you? You stalked me on the interwebs.” You giggled, too buzzed from the alcohol and performing to really be mad at her.

“Maaaybe? But, like, it was so worth it and everyone agrees.” The team nodded in agreement.

“No, but really, where did that come from?” JJ asked again. You blushed some more.

“Well,” you scratched the back of your head, very aware of six pairs of eyes being focused on you, “I used to sing, sort of, when I did theatre in my past life.”

“Wait, why didn’t we know this?”

“Well, I don’t know. It was a past life.” Your team looked like they were waiting for more so you continued. “Acting was always what I wanted to do, and that’s what I studied as an undergraduate. But then, you know the cliché, I was doing more waitressing and odd jobs than actually acting so I decided it’d be worth it to actually have a back up. So I went back to school and found this and studied and here we are!” You smiled at your teammates.

“Huh. That actually explains a lot.”

“Now we just need a Phantom of the Opera killer or something and then you’ve got us covered!” Morgan joked.

“Oh please don’t jinx it. That would be horrific.”

“You know, the Phantom only actually kills two people in the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical. So we probably wouldn’t even get to that case. It’s not stated how many people he has killed in Gaston Leroux’s novel, but it’s definitely over three anyways. However most of them would have been as a paid assassin, which would have been viewed differently at that time.” The whole team looked over at Spencer for a minute before busting up in laughter. “What?”

“It’s just,” you put your hand on his arm, “we’re all decently not sober and you’re still spouting facts like normal.”

“Ahh, sorry.”

“No! No, don’t apologize, Spencer. Everything’s just funnier with alcohol.” You giggled again and leant your head over onto his shoulder. You missed the look that passed between Morgan and Garcia.

“Well, it really was a great performance, Y/N. I think I should start heading home though,” Hotch said. “I’m hoping to find a sleeping child when I get home, but I’m worried I might find a tired grumpy one instead.”

“Oh thank you Hotch!” you said, lifting your head back off of your teammate’s shoulder.

“I should probably head out too,” said Rossi. “You mind sharing a cab?”

Hotch shook his head and you all said your goodbyes as the two men walked out of the bar. As soon as they were through the door you felt a big yawn creep up on you.

“Getting tired, Ariel?”

“Yeah. Singing really takes it out of you.” You put your head back down on Spencer’s shoulder. “Hey, Derek, what’s with the ‘Ariel’?”

“Well you needed a musical nickname now! It’s the best I could do on such short notice.”

“Ah well your nicknames are better sober. I’m not sure if that’s cause you make better ones or if I just understand them when I’m sober, but that’s what I think.” You sort of trailed off your sentence as you realized how tired you were from the last case.

“I think maybe it’s time to head home?” Spencer half said, half asked you. You could feel him moving his head, as if trying to see your face with your cheek on his shoulder.

“Mmmhmm.” You agreed with him, but made no move to get up. “You’re comfy.”  
You heard your three remaining colleagues chuckle but missed Reid’s blush.

“What?” you asked them.

“You should go home, Y/N.”

“Ok.” You finally lifted your head off of Spencer’s shoulder and blinked as you regained some of your wits. “Wow, sorry guys, I’m not totally sure what happened.”

“Hey, it’s been a long case,” JJ said.

You felt Spencer start getting up next to you and moved to do the same. You went around the table to hug all of your friends goodbye while he waited.

“We’ll see you in a couple days,” Penelope said. You mentally thanked whatever deity was listening for the well-deserved time off of work.

“Have a good ride home!” Morgan shouted after the two of you as you made your way to the door.

***

You snuggled into the passenger seat of your own car as Spencer shut the door behind you. You had teased him for being “such a gentleman” when he opened it for you, but silently admitted to yourself that it might have taken you much longer to do by yourself. He climbed in opposite you, shut the door, and pulled his seatbelt across his lap. He was aware that you had been watching him the whole time and turned to face you.

“Thank you,” you said.

“It’s nothing,” he replied.

“Yeah, but seriously.”

The two of you remained silent for a few minutes.

“Fuck me, I’m tired.” You saw Spencer raise his eyebrow out of the corner of your eye and turned to face him again. “Do you ever get used to it? Like not just the violence and pain, but the physical exhaustion.”

He sighed.

“No.”

“Good to know.” You were both silent for another minute. “If I ever get used to the violence and pain please put me down. As humanely as possible, but dear God please do it. Or get someone else to I don’t really care– ”

“Y/N,” he interrupted you, “I really don’t think you’re going to have that problem.”

“I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He sighed again. “I just– You can’t let it consume you. Because that’s when you lose yourself. But trust me, if I can still be relatively fine after all that I’ve seen in this department you’ll do as well as anyone can.”

You could tell that there was more behinds those words than you were privy to, and you didn’t want to push your friend. Even if your drunk brain was dying of curiosity.

In an attempt to otherwise occupy your mind, you turned to look out the window. But the speed of the car combined with the alcohol and exhaustion made you dizzier than you would like to admit.

“Hey, Spencer?”

“Yeah?”

“How’re you getting home tonight?” you asked as he pulled the car into your building’s parking garage.

“I was going to take a cab.”  
“Oh.” He parked the car in your space and the two of you undid your seatbelts. “You could just stay with me. If you wanted.” He just looked at you. “I mean, you’ve got your go bag right? And I’ve got a super comfy couch. More comfy than it should be really; makes me not wanna do anything when I’m on it. In fact you can take the bed, I’ll take the couch!”

“No, Y/N…”

“Please?” You didn’t really know where this came from, but you were worried you might actually start begging. “No funny business, I swear. Scout’s honor.” You held three of your fingers up like they had taught you in Girl Scouts and giggled.

“You don’t giggle when you’re sober.”

“That’s a true fact so I’ll take it as a yes thank you!” You suddenly felt your second wind as you bounded out of the car and to the stairs, practically pulling Spencer along with you. When you got to your door, you looked sheepishly at the lock and then at your friend.

“Ok. Assuming I can find my keys, can you unlock the door?”

“Um, yeah, but why?” he asked as you started digging through your purse.

“Well, you know how much I like Sherlock and therefore how embarrassed I would be if the genius in question assumed I was an alcoholic because of how many times I’ve tried to open doors while drunk and left scratches around the locks. Ta-da!” you exclaimed, producing your keys from your bag.

“Hehe, sure I’ll get it.” He opened the door with one smooth movement and you let out a breath at the sight of your home.

“Home, sweet, home!” You walked in quickly, leaving Spencer to close and lock the door behind the two of you. “I’m gonna go into my room and change and get ready and stuff, do you wanna just do your stuff out here? I’ll knock before I open my door again,” you say, already starting to close your door.

“It’s ok.” He looked at you pointedly. “You do know we’ve changed in front of each other before?”

“Yeah, but that was so different!” He quirked his eyebrows. “It was in the line of duty,” you said mock-seriously, before getting giggly again. “Plus I was not drunk, and you were not in my house. And I may or may not have a slightly spotty track record when it comes to mixing booze and attractive friends. Usually of the male variety but now we’re getting far too personal for any time of night so I’m just going to…” you trailed off and shut your door, leaving Spencer standing in the middle of your sitting room.

Sure, you’d long ago admitted that your coworker was exactly the type of guy that you normally fell for, but had done your best to not let it go anywhere past there. But you told yourself that he probably wasn’t even fully paying attention to what you were saying – you were drunk and rambling and dear lord you made it sound like you wanted to sleep with him. But no. Just no. Because you knew he’d have such a nice way of turning you down and in some ways that would just make it worse. You wouldn’t want to deal with pity of any sort at work. And everyone was bound to find out one way or another. You didn’t need Garcia sneaking into any more aspects of your life than she’d already weaseled her way into.

You quickly threw on your Halloween sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. You brushed your teeth but decided to forgo your normal face cleanse even though you knew you would regret it in the morning.

You were on your way back to your door when you heard a knock on it.

“I already brushed my teeth at your kitchen sink but would you mind if I used your bathroom?” he asked through the door. You opened it to find a very casual looking Spencer.

“No, not at all.”

“Thanks.” He headed into your bathroom and closed the door behind him.

You grabbed one of the pillows off your bed and changed the case as quickly as you could, tossing it on the bed and grabbing the other one to take with you to the couch. While there you checked that you had enough blankets, before going to sit on the end of your bed. You didn’t have to wait long before Spencer emerged.

“Ok I gave you a fresh pillowcase in here – is there anything else I can get you?” You stumbled a tiny bit when you stood up.

“Oh, no, but let me have the couch, really.”

“No, you’re my guest! You deserve the best.”

“Well you talked that couch up so much I have to give it a try now.” You both laughed a little.

“Ok, fine. Grab that pillow.” You walked back out with him to grab your own. “But I will have you know that I am only agreeing to this cause I’m drunk and tired and all the stubborn goes away when you do that.”

“Don’t worry, I know you’re usually much more stubborn than this.” He threw his pillow down on the couch.

You stood there for a few seconds, holding your own pillow and looking at your friend. He looked like he was trying to read you. You scrunched up your nose so that you couldn’t look at him while you asked.

“Can I hug you?”

“What?”

“I’m sorry this is lame.”  
“No. No, it’s not. Come here.” You let him pull you in before wrapping your arms around him enthusiastically. You both took a deep breath in.

“Thank you,” you said, letting go.

“Any time,” he said quietly as you made your way back to your bedroom, choosing to leave the door open.


End file.
